Position of Anakpawis National Political Party on various regional, national, and international issues

Saturday, July 08, 2006

0621: War vs NPA a pretext to silence legitimate grievances against GMA

From the Office of Anakpawis Representative Crispin B. Beltran

Lisa C. Ito, Public Information Officer (+63)927.796.7006

Tel. # (+632) 931-6615 Email: crispinbeltran@gmail.com

URL: http:// www.geocities.com/ap_news

PRESS RELEASE

June 21, 2006

War vs NPA a pretext to silence legitimate grievances against GMA

The Arroyo administration is using the all-out war against the New Peoples' Army as a pretext to silence legitimate grievances against GMA and to justify violence against individuals and organizations who are calling for the President to step down from office , Anakpawis Partylist Congressman Crispin Beltran said today from Room 427 of the Philippine Heart Center (PHC).

"The all-out offensive only shows the Palace's moribund paranoia. GMA knows that nationwide protests will be overflowing like rain as her State of the Nation Address (SONA) nears this July. She knows that a new impeachment complaint in Congress will be yielding a huge storm of support from the people. She knows that hunger and unemployment have wreaked damage throughout the nation, and will eventually prod more of the poor into rejecting her administration," Beltran said.

"The release of P1 billion will also be used in harassing and suppressing progressive party list organizations in the upcoming elections. The Arroyo administration will not only be using the P1 billion as a 'war fund', but also as an "election fund" geared towards the political repression of organizations such as Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, and Gabriela, as well as progressive and even opposition candidates ," Beltran said.

"GMA thinks that launching a highly-publicized offensive at this point will erase the people's lingering anger over unresolved political issues and impeachable offenses under her administration: massive electoral fraud in connivance with key COMELEC and military officials, plunder and large-scale graft and corruption, culpable violations of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and extra-judicial killings. But this all-out war will only add to her list of injustices against the Filipino people," Beltran said.

"GMA is feeding this bloody offensive to protect herself, not the people. She is supporting this all-out war to protect her own selfish interests, not the welfare of the nation's workers, peasants, migrants, urban poor, and national minorities. The poor majority will have nothing to gain by this bloody rampage of troops in the countryside," said Beltran, who is currently detained under rebellion charges by the government.

"The recall of stand-by troops to fight the NPA only emphasizes how desperate and paranoid the Arroyo administration is. It seems that GMA and her cohorts in the military are hell-bent on turning Central Luzon, Bicol, and the Southern Tagalog into a 'howling wilderness' just to ensure that they stay in power," Beltran said. ###